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Editors at MacWorld have begun to review the iPhone OS 2.2 update and are somewhat disappointed to see that certain desired improvements for business functionality have not been made. However, the order in which iPhone owners can now view podcasts is said to be an improvement.

As far as the business features go (and certainly some in this list would be very handy for personal use too), just some of the desired ones not part of the update that MacWorld notes include no on-device data encryption, passwords are limited to four-digit numeric PINs, no ability to synchronize notes or set up calendar items with the same scheduling controls as in Exchange and cut and paste. MacWorld even goes as far to say that since the 2.2 update does not accommodate more of the needs of the business community that the BlackBerry Storm has “a real chance to push the iPhone out of the enterprise, at least as a standard sanctioned device.”

Although the 2.2 update does not change much as far as business needs go, there are two main User Interface changes that MacWorld pinpoints. One is on the Safari browser - it now has a small search box on the same row as its URL box. MacWorld calls this design change “inelegant.” However, a welcome UI change according to MacWorld is that there is now a preference setting to turn off or on the iPhone's autocorrect feature when a user types. In addition to several minimal application changes the other big functional change is the new ability to download podcasts from Apple's iTunes Store while not having to sync via iTunes on the desktop.

Also as far as podcasts go, the older OS used to list podcasts with the newest at the top. Now the podcasts are listed in chronological order, as MacWorld describes, with the “oldest at the top. Which means you can start playback at any episode, and after that episode is finished, the next-most-recent one plays automatically.” This is also a welcome change.

MacWorld says it’s still too early to tell if the update will fix bugs in e-mail and browser operations.